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“I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

Sooooo now I am in my studio staring down all my cord ....... by the way, always sirens, huh?
Slippery Shug

That cord is calling to you Shug, you know it is.
Yeah, I didn't realize what a siren fest was going on when I did some of those shots. The park is next to a hospital and so one often hears ambulances and a helicoptor, but that morning there must have been a fire somewhere.

Originally Posted by Dutch

Now maybe i can try those fancy knots of yours.

That's classic knots, Dutch, not fancy ones. Oh the younger generation, they have no sense or reading of history....

Originally Posted by moski

...
You must have spent a lot of time,
thinking things through before filming.

yes I did, thanks for noticing, I'm glad it shows. I'm in education, I'm a co-author on a college-level textbook that gets a lot of use, I'm always writing technical papers...organization to convey the material matters a lot to me.

Originally Posted by stormcrow

... This video is a MUST see by new and seasoned hammockers alike....
...I use that Marlin spike hitch all the time for stakes...

you know, instructors of required courses always get the worst student reviews On the stakes, that's what I use too. Grew up calling it a slip knot.

Originally Posted by east_stingray

...and here I JUST ordered a strap system from Brandon. *sigh*

With the backlog Brandon seems to have, it probably isn't too late to let him know you've changed your mind

Originally Posted by amac

...Your vids have helped tremendously. Thanks again. Your videos are a true asset to the forum.

you're welcome. Getting through to folks is why I did them. I learned a tremendous amount of stuff about hammocking and backpacking from this site, and doing this is both fun and a way to give back to the community.

maybe also to show that I'm a regular guy and not just one of those bridge hammock nutsos

And the popular in the UK Evenk knot. I like it myself too but I use it for my tarp ridgeline on one end.

One thing he does which is an interesting method to get a reproducible amount of sag on each hang is to use a temporary ridge line , he calls it a guide line.

If I understood his use of the guide line , it is only used to get the sag the same each time the hammock is suspended, then it is removed before laying in the hammock. One could of course attach a permanent ridge line once you find a length of line which gives you the amount of sag you like but then you have to use strong line and its always there whether you want it there or not.

His guide line has two small clips , one at each end of the line. The length of which can be tinkered with till you find the sag you like. The ridge line is attached while adjusting the suspension lines at either end of the hammock and then the ridge line is removed. Thus no need to use strong heavy clips which would be required if leaving the line attached since high tension can be present if suspended to tightly. Thus saving a little weight.

But perhaps this is a known technique to you more veteran hammock hangers.

Anyway, not intending to hijack the video thread - just offering a link to yet another way of doing things. Also I posted links to the videos in the bushcraftuk forum thread. Thus spreading the knowledge.

David--thanks for that link. I popped over to bushcraft to have a look, yea! more knots to master!

Graham and I do the same thing, the only difference is that he unclips the ridgeline once he's done, and I leave it on to to hang up my socks and scare away the wildlife

Seriously, the key thing is to tighten the suspension just to the point where the ridgeline just starts to hold the ends closer together than the suspension would do by itself. At that point it doesn't matter whether the ridgeline is attached or not, you get the sag you would if it were.

BTW thanks for the plug on the bushcraft site. youtube tells me the national origins of the IP addresses that view the videos, so I'll be looking for a spike from the UK!

Very nice job on the videos all around. Very informative as well. I've got SMC rings and straps right now and have been thinking I wanted to go to cord to save some space/weight. The slip ring thing is slick! Now I have to make the switch...

Soooo Mr. Cordage Savant there .... I thought you may be tickled to know that I just finished going back to cord, Marlinhitch which is .... to use an over-used word ... awesome and I made a short piece of light weight alum from an old tent pole (ha-ha) to attach and make the post. Ain't got no Bloodwood. Well a boomerang but it shall remain unscathed.
For now using Bluewater 4 mm cord. Tensile strength of 921 lbf. 30 feet cut in two. Two 4 foot web straps ... loop stitched in one end of each. Total weight of all combined: 6.5 ounces. Not to shabby.
The camo webbing, two light biners was 9.2 ounces. Not to bad either.
I will use webbing and biners for easy camping ... campgrounds but have been feeling the pull of the cordage to harken back to my humble hammock beginnings.
The webbing and biners just feels too easy sometimes and I feel shameful...
Going to get some amsteel blue or that Vertrex (or whatever it is).
Brilliant vid and thanks for the nudge.
After a trip I always feel that deep need to tweak!
Shug of the Slippery Hitch

.... I thought you may be tickled to know that I just finished going back to cord, Marlinhitch which is .... to use an over-used word ... awesome and I made a short piece of light weight alum from an old tent pole (ha-ha) to attach and make the post. Ain't got no Bloodwood. Well a boomerang but it shall remain unscathed.

huzzah! That Marlinspike hitch, she's a beaut. Ol TeeDee dropped its use on a tree hugger out of the sky on us one day, and being one who has learned it is worthwhile to comb through his tomes carefully, I did, saw that and said "Huh? What's this? Tried it, adapted it to make an adjustable length suspension, and have been trying to spread the gospel ever since.

Going to get some amsteel blue or that Vertrex (or whatever it is).
Brilliant vid and thanks for the nudge.
After a trip I always feel that deep need to tweak!
Shug of the Slippery Hitch

I love that tweaking myself. Last night I was putting together my gear for next's week's ramble and working on going black with the tarp and all the rigging, 'cause I'll be needing to skulk around in a stealthy sort of way. So off goes the ridgeline with reflective tracing, goodbye to the bright ORANGE no tangle guylines from Br'r Ed...a bit o tweaking on ridgeline-to-tree connects, a bit o tweaking on holding the tarp to the ridgeline, a lot of measuring and cutting and sewing to cook up a black beak for my black MacCat Deluxe. And some more tweaking tonight to get that beak fitted just the way I want it.

Truly inspiring stuff Grizz, more so now that I have met you and seen your set up in the flesh. Probably because I'm a mechanical engineer I went the gadget route for my hanging system, but the elegance of your set up has given me the imperative to at least try it out, not only your suspension system, but your bridge design as well.